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20 November 2009
Tasmania
The curse of
boutique production
"One of the curses of small boutique
vineyards in Tasmania is that we often sell
out vintages quickly due to limited
production, and very rarely get to sell our
wines when they are aged, and at their
best drinking potential," says Peter Whish-
Wilson of Three Wishes. "The past five
exceptionally warm vintages from the
Tamar Valley will emphasise this point, with
wines of great ageing potential and
complexity promising so much for lucky
and astute consumers."
Peter believes that the 2008 vintage is
arguably the best of the past decade.
Three Wishes is due to release its 2008
Pinot Noir and 2008 Landbridge Pinot Noir
this summer, as well as the 2008
Chardonnay and 2008 Riesling. The 2008
Chardonnay is 100% whole bunch pressed,
wild fermented and stirred on lees.
Savoury, sweet white peach fruit with spice
makes it an unusual, funky style for Tasmania.
"The 08 Pinot Noir is earthy and
mushroom with hints of rhubarb, sweet
raspberry and cherry spice. The palate is
creamy, with a long confectionary finish.
The wine was co-fermented with 5% super-
ripe Chardonnay in 2008---unusual in its
own right---and was bottled unfiltered and
not coppered, which is also against the
rules!" Peter continues. "This wine was
made to cellar and improve over the next
five to 10 years. We made this to be
different and to stand out in the crowd. It
promises to be our best Pinot to date!"
Three Wishes also released its first real
Botrytis wine in 2008, made from Riesling
grapes. The wine, which is promising to be
the winery's most sought-after bottle, has
typical botrytised characters of apricot
mixed with crisp lemon and grapefruit acidity.
Project Moorilla
While Hobart-based winery Moorilla has
heavily downsized in recent years and cut
production by 75% to return to its boutique
roots, the company has also expanded to
include a micro-brewery, restaurant and
function centre.
This was only the first step in a process
that has already seen a restructuring of
product ranges and winemaking
philosophies. Construction has now begun
on the new cellar and barrel stores, and
winemaker Conor van der Reest has
designed a new gravity flow winery to
maximise efficiencies, double available
barrel space and restrict fermentation size
to create a 150 tonne pilot winery.
With Tasmania's cool and unpredictable
climate, differences between growing
seasons can be extreme. Moorilla's two
vineyards in the Tamar and Derwent
valleys are also markedly different. By
using small ferments, Conor can exploit
the natural variations between and within
every block. He commented, "Both
Moorilla vineyards show large variations in
soil type and water holding capacity that
reflect in the style of the wine, especially
for Pinot Noir and Riesling. In 2008, we ran
42 separate Pinot Noir fermentations, each
showing remarkably unique characters.
The new winery will allow this to become
the normal means of production and
increase the variation in our wine batches
pre-blending."
Conor says that this philosophy has
allowed him to build the company's two
wine labels, Muse and Praxis, into two
strong and independent series. "By
focusing on small ferments, I'm able to
vary treatments and techniques within
blocks and achieve finished wines that
have greater complexity and richness.
Wines that show fresh and bolder fruit
qualities or that are better suited for
youthful drinking are blended together, to
make Praxis. If a wine shows more
restrained fruit, is more complex or savoury
and has the capacity to mature well in
bottle, we call them Muse."
Moorilla's redevelopment is still far from
complete. The transition to organic and
bio-dynamic vineyard practices is
continuing and is expected to take
another few years. A third vineyard on the
East coast of Tasmania is in the planning
stages, construction of the winery won't
finish for another 12 months and
implementation of Moorillas' environmental
plan is also still underway. Conor hopes to
have all his projects completed for vintage
2011, which will see Moorilla celebrate 50
years of winemaking.
Moorilla winemaker Conor van der Reest